Insomnia
by Cynderbark
Summary: The story of a character of an original species based in the IZ world.
1. Chapter 1

Neyonia the Second- Residence of Moonlight Blue and Lucid "Insomnia" Blue- 6:30 PM

"Lucid! Get up!"

There is grumbling from the basement, "Mom, no…"

"You told me to wake you up for work today. Get up."

"Not a half-hour early!"

Her mother sighs heavily, "Well, sorry."

Her daughter comes up stairs and hugs her briefly, "S'okay mom, thanks for wakin' me up."

"You're welcome," she hands Lucid a jar of bugs out of the pantry, "Why don't you eat something?"

Lucid looks over the contents in the jar, her belly rumbling to remind her how hungry she was. "Alright." She twists the lid off and eats the contents by the handful.

"You've been eating more than usual as of late," her mother observed.

Lucid half choked on the bugs she was swallowing. "Uhh… Guess I have…" She looks down at herself, her belly more than twice the size it had been only a few weeks ago. Her feathers begin to get darker out of fear for her mother finding out her secret, "Uhh, must be my metabolism gettin' lower or somethin'."

Her mother looks over a glass of water at her, "…Or something?"

Lucid nods a little bit, "Or somethin'."

Lucid lies down on her bed and lets her head dangle down to the floor. Her ears and feathers brush the ground and she gives her tail the freedom to swish back and forth rhythmically over the wall. She grabs her MP3 player from her nightstand near her. Lucid pushes the headphones over her ears and puts it on full blast. At first this hurts since her ears are hypersensitive to sounds but eventually she becomes somewhat used to the noise. There were several things clawing at her mind at that moment she would give anything to forget about.

The first of these things was her recently made friend who she had really come to like.

The second of these things was how uncomfortable being pregnant was… and how worried she was about having to tell anybody, especially her mom.

The third was her sister, whom she always worried about escaping jail, though it was the most secure in the galaxy.

These things bothered her daily. It seemed as if there was no escape. The few things she looked forward to in the day were music, work, and her anti-depressant pill- though this was not available to her for the time being.

Every few moments she looks over at the clock out of anxiousness. 6:45… 6:46… 6:47… and continued this pattern until it was finally 7:00. She groans and drags herself from the bed to get ready for work.

She quickly takes a shower and brushes her teeth. Lucid then puts on her favorite pair of jeans and her only shirt. Her feathers on her head and tail glowed with a bright neon blue light. She put on a belt, one she had commissioned for herself and loved very much, which glowed the same color as her feathers except for the buckle, which was silver.

Lucid shoves her hands deep into her pockets and examines herself in the mirror. She put on her most convincing smile and flutters her eyelashes prettily. For a moment, the show she's trying to put on for the world depresses her. The smile drops from her lips, the feathers on her head dim almost black, and her shoulders slump dramatically.

"I need my anti-depressants," she thinks to herself furiously, "but I can't take them while I'm pregnant!" She sighs and rubs her belly sadly, "I need to think more before I act."

She shuts her eyes after a moment and brings back the color to her feathers. The smile is forced to return and she stands up strait. She looks at herself one last time, trying to make her eyes less troubled looking but ultimately failing.

She goes upstairs and takes the house key from the hook on the wall with a, "See ya mom!" and walks swiftly out of the house.

The ship in the garage waited loyally for Lucid, reliable as always. Lucid starts it and drives to work, almost one fourth of the way across the planet. She didn't mind the drive much, the gas for the car was cheap and she loved her job.

The only bad thing about the drive was that it gave her lots of time alone with her thoughts, exactly what she didn't want.

When music didn't relieve her of her thoughts she moved to making an unpleasant screeching sound that hurt her own ears. She put all her focus on driving and somehow made it to work without crashing into anything.

An Adusta Pluma like Lucid who had blue-green feathers walked out of the door just as Lucid arrived. The girl is dressed in a baggy pair of jeans that had glow sticks wrapped around the legs, a black jacket, and a denim hat pulled over one of her eyes. One of her ears pokes out under the side of the hat. She is about half a foot shorter than Lucid. The girl's belly is round with pups just as Lucid was coming to be.

"Hey!" The girl runs up to Lucid, "How's it goin' DJ?"

Lucid gives her a hug, "I'm doin' fine, Ocean."

Ocean happily wraps her arms around Lucid, "I'm glad to hear that."

Lucid's feathers brightened at seeing her ex happy. The two of them had broken up only a week ago though they weren't mad at each other. In fact they were still very much friends. They had sort of agreed to break up since they had each found someone else they liked better and had grown tired of having a romantic relationship with the other.

Ocean is the first to pull herself out of the embrace, "So Insomnia… How are your pups doing?"

Lucid holds her belly, "They kick every once in a while but other than that they've been good… And yours?"

"Really well! I think that I'll get to give birth to them soon."

Lucid nods, "That's wonderful."

"Um," she seems a little nervous to ask what's on her mind but spits it out anyway, "D-do you think the legend Carlos, father of the new generation, will return to see them?"

Lucid is a little surprised, "You still remember him?"

Ocean shoves her ex playfully, "Well, of course I remember him! He's a legend! Will he be back or not?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't spoken to him in a while…"

Ocean looks a little sad, her feathers dimming slightly, "Oh, okay. I'd better let you get to work."

"Yeah, I'll be seein' ya then."

"See you."

Lucid goes past Ocean and opens the door to the nightclub she worked at. The air conditioning ruffled her fur pleasantly and the familiar smell of food she could only barely sense made her feel welcome. A variety of different aliens were out on the dance floor and some sat over at the bar. Lucid could make out a lot of Irkens, many Vortians, a few Vortkens, and the glow of one or two other Adusta Pluma.

She makes her way to the DJ stand to relieve the other DJ of his duties. The other DJ, Radd was too busy listening to the music and mixing it he didn't notice Lucid's approach.

"Radd, I'm here, you can go now, bro." She lets the tip of her tail touch his leg.

Radd pulls off the headphones he's wearing, "Yo, yo, DJ Insomnia finally shows up," he laughs and checks the digital clock on the mixing station continuing to mix the music without stopping, "Just kidding, yo. You're a minute early but you can take over right now if you like."

"That'd be great," she bumps Radd out of the way with her hip, wincing at the pain made from her pups shifting in her belly, and takes over the mixing.

Radd stands back for a while, commenting on her mixing skills and choice of music. Eventually these comments turned into critiques. Lucid endured them but only because this was her teacher, the first person to introduce DJing to her. He had taught her most of what she knew about mixing and creating music.

He had started to create music when he was 7 and had kept it to himself until he was fourteen, sharing it secretly with his close friends. Lucid happened to be one of those friends. She looked up to him as almost and older brother and as her role model. At the age of 15 he shared how to make music with Lucid on the day of her 9th birthday. She was thrilled and so for the next 12 years they taught each other new ways of creating music and collaborated on a few projects. He was even the person who got her the job at the club.

They had become two of the closest friends, but never anything more. Lucid had once suggested going out together though Radd had declined. He told her it would feel weird to go from just friends to boyfriend and girlfriend. Plus, he had reasoned, he was too old for her even though Lucid didn't think that was a problem.

After about an hour Lucid turned around and spoke to him while she used her tail to mix the music, "Why are you still here? Don't you need to get some sleep?"

Radd sighed, "I should get some sleep, but I'm not tired yet."

"You aren't getting paid overtime to stand there."

He shrugs, "Yeah, so what? I want to listen to your music, yo. Izzat a problem?"

"Naw, no problem with that." Her feathers brighten with amusement.

After a minute, he comes out with another comment, "I can tell you've gotten better, though you didn't take off as much time as you usually do for heat. …Was there something wrong?"

Lucid grits her teeth, "Um…" She looks away from him and pulls her ears down unconfortably, "I'll tell you later…"

Radd doesn't ask any more questions, he merely leans up against the wall, arms crossed and tapping his foot to the beat. Lucid turned back around to focus on the music.

Strange as it was, Lucid had started to see Radd now not just as an older brother, but a guardian. This was odd because Adusta Pluma would not guard one another unless they had quite deep feelings for the other.

…Could it be possible that Radd was fonder of Lucid than he said he was?

True, he was often quiet. True, he did treat Lucid a little special. But it was also true he always told the truth. He must have another reason for protecting her because he had declined her offer to become more than friends.

XxX

Neyonia the Second- Outside the Nightclub- 5:03 AM

Lucid had finished working for the day. Radd had stayed with her the entire time, despite falling asleep three times and being startled awake by a loud noise or Lucid nudging him. His eyes now looked tired and his red colored feathers were dim with exaustion.

They stop outside and sit together in Lucid's ship. Lucid takes the driver's seat and Radd occupies the other seat next to her.

"You were going to tell me something." Radd reminded her.

Lucid looks troubled a moment then blows out a sigh. "I got pregnant," she admits.

Radd is shocked, " What? I thought you were better than that!"

Lucid is taken aback, " You thought I was better than that? What do you mean?"

"What I mean," Radd's face creases up like he's about to cry, though that is impossible for their species to do, "Is that you always held yourself back during heat. Every time. What would ever cause you to break your habit?"

Lucid looks down at the floor, ashamed.

"Tell me," he persisted.

" Maybe I don't wanna ," Lucid's voice is somewhat harsh.

Radd sighs, "I can tell it's bothering you."

Lucid holds herself from speaking a moment but can no longer keep her emotions to herself, "There was a human demon kid, Carlos. He can apparently live through anythin'. You know the story, he got 87 of us pregnant in just three days. The next morning I went into heat and I couldn't resist becomin' the 88th girl." She looks completely ashamed of her actions, "I think it was the fact he cain't die that made all the difference for me. Otherwise I'm not sure if I'd have made that choice."

Radd takes a moment to absorb all of this.

His silence unnerves Lucid, who puts her hands over her face, "I'm such a whore!"

Radd holds her head to his chest, "You're not a whore."

"Yes, I am," Lucid snuffles loudly, "And I'm stupid too! I'm going to have pups and I don't even have the money to raise them!"

Radd looks concerned, "I could spare some money for you to use to raise your pups."

Radd's parents had died when the planet of Neyonia had been destroyed by the Irkens. The Neyonian's that escaped with their lives that day were now either slaves to the empire or refugees. The refugees were able to find others and banded together to form small communities on neighboring planets.

When Radd joined a community, he was completely broke. He had to live in a box for the first week there and would not move from it. Though he had not been linked to either of his parents by blood, he had been very attached to them and he mourned them greatly. Much to his surprise, his lawyer found his parent's will that left Radd with nearly a million dollars from a college and retirement fund they had kept.

Radd was overjoyed that his parents had thought of him and made sure to spend the money with care. It was not typical for him to loan out money at all, even when he was going to get the money back later.

"I could never pay you back though!"

"Who ever said anything about you paying me back?"

"No…" She shakes her head, "You'd just give it to me? You're not like that."

"Err…" he looks away from her.

"Come on, I had to answer a difficult question, now you have to."

Radd sighs, "I just don't like seeing you sad's all."

"That's it? It usually takes a lot more than that to get you to spend your money."

"I think you're a worthy cause," he says, nuzzling her. Lucid smiles and hugs him in response.

At this moment Lucid's cell phone rings. She jerks herself out of the hug and looks unhappily at the phone, then answers it.

It's her mom.

"Hello?"

"Lucid. Cillik escaped. "

Radd puts his head next to Lucid's to listen in on the conversation.

"Escaped?" asks Lucid in disbelief.

"Yes, when we sent her there a few months ago they had still been building the prison. They stopped construction and she got out."

"Oh my gods. How do you know this?"

"…She's here right now."

Lucid starts the ship, "I'll be right over mom." And she floors it.

XxX

Neyonia the Second- Hovering over Lucid's house- 5:34 AM

Lucid had flown at top speed back to the house with Radd who was forced to come along due to the force of motion crushing him into the seat.

There was a crater less than a mile outside the town that was still smoldering. Lucid assumed that it was the wreckage of the ship Cillik had used to get off the prison planet and over to hers.

In town, there was but one set of red feathers, the ones belonging to Cillik. Red light glinted off of her fake metal wings and her arm scythe, making her look like the monster she was.

Cillik was howling, "Where are you Lucid? Sister! Sister! Answer me!"

Lucid looks over nervously at Radd, "Should we go down there?"

"Why'd you come back here if you weren't planning to face her?"

Lucid growls, "Hm. You've gotta point…" She flips a switch in the ship and they begin to descend.

Lucid lands the ship far enough away for Cillik not to notice them. They get out and cautiously approach Cillik from behind. When they're almost to her, Lucid accidentally trips over a rock. She loses her balance momentarily though surprisingly, manages to keep her footing. Cillik hears her and spins on her heel to face the two of them. Radd puts on a brave face but Lucid's face displays the pure fear she has of Cillk.

Cillik spreads her arms wide, "Sister, how nice of you to show up," she takes off the scythe she wears on her arm and lets it drop to the ground. Her half mask is pulled off and let fall next to the weapon, "We've been apart so long, I was afraid you'd forgotten about me."

Lucid turns slightly angry, "I'd never forget someone who brought on the destruction of our home."

Cillik glares at her, "That wasn't intentional."

"But the killing was," Lucid snaps back, "Why are you here? To kill the rest of us?"

"I didn't fly around the entire universe looking for you so I could kill you . That would be absolutely pointless, you're my sister, gods."

"If you didn't come here to kill me, what did you come here for?"

"…To apologize. I was given time to reflect on my actions in that jail. I also suffered from partial starvation, intense pain, and a severe loss of hearing during my time there. Anyways, after much thought I remembered something you and mom liked to call "morals". I, uh, borrowed internet power from them and researched these "morals" and found them inside of myself."

"So you just adopted some morals?"

"Yep."

"…Which ones?"

"Don't kill others, don't hurt others, don't steal, stuff like that."

Lucid thinks for a long moment, "… How'd you escape jail then?"

Cillik's beaming with pride as the answer flows almost naturally from her lips, "I killed them all," then she realizes she had broken her adopted moral code and the smile is stolen from her face, "Uh! I mean-"

"No, I think that was exactly what you meant," says Lucid, arms crossed.

Cillik looks defiant, "Hey, don't expect me to adapt overnight!"

Lucid just snorts and turns away from her sister.

"S-sister!" Cillik reaches out and grabs her sister by her shoulder, "Don't go."

Lucid stops but doesn't look back at her sister.

"I'm sorry. I really am."

Lucid turns around again and sees in her sister's face is sincere. She shakes her head, "Don't tell me that."

"Don't tell you…?"

"Don't tell me you're sorry. You should apologize to all the other families that lost their relatives and friends to you!"

"I don't even know them!"

"You could apologize to the Adusta Pluma that got forced out of their homes."

"I tried. I was kind of flying around blindly for a few months so when I found a community of Adusta Pluma and I apologized but most of them threw stuff at me, and it wasn't flowers and plush toys neither!" She rubs her most recent wounds inflicted by her contact with another Adusta Pluma community, "Those little bugs throw bombs and shoot cannons!"

Lucid raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, uh, I'm off topic again, aren't I?"

Both Lucid and Radd nod.

"Whatever," Cillik flicks her tail, "Forgive me or not?"

"I guess ," responds Lucid

"Alright! One down, one to go," Cillik says, walking off swiftly to the house to speak to her mother.

XxX

Neyonia the Second- Residence of Moonlight Blue, Lucid "Insomnia" Blue, and now Cillik Moonwarm Red - 12:12 AM

After about an hour of yelling at one another, Lucid's mother had allowed her other daughter to stay with them. The main reason this was so was because Cillik had resorted to using death threats. Cillik was now lounging on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, playing violent video games and occasionally yelling at the television. Her mother was busy pacing through the house and giving her red feathered daughter wary glances.

Lucid and Radd had snuck in while they were busy arguing and crept down to the basement. Lucid fell asleep in a chair around 11:00 and let Radd the guest bed, which he had gladly accepted. At this time he was struggling to get to sleep, turning over every once in a while to get into a more confortable position.

In less than an hour he'd have to be up and at work again.

He kicks his feet under the covers and puts his head under the pillow, trying more desperately than ever to fall asleep.

XxX

Neyonia the Second- Residence of Moonlight Blue, Lucid "Insomnia" Blue, and now Cillik Moonwarm Red – 4:06 PM

After getting about 15 minutes of sleep, Radd had left at 12:00 PM to go back to work. He made sure he didn't disturb Lucid in her sleep.

Cillik wasn't so kind as to be quiet for the others sleeping. At 4:00 she had just beat Fallout 3 on the PS3 and she started howling like monkey, "Yeah! I won! Yes! Yes! WHOOOOO! ."

"Quit screaming like a two year old!" hollers her mother.

"Shuddup you bug! I beat the game start to finish in less than an hour! It's a new record!"

Lucid storms up the stairs, "Hey, some people are actually trying to sleep 'cause they have work in the morning!"

"You got a job? Gods, you sound like an old beetle," sneers Cillik.

"I think it sounds respectable," their mother cuts in.

"Shuddup, bug," Cillik snaps at her mother, "I wasn't talking to you."

"That's it, go to your room young lady!" their mother snarls.

Cillik pulls a kitchen knife out from under the couch cushion she's sitting on and holds it at her mother's throat, "Wanna loose your head, bug? Keep talkin' an' you will."

Her mother makes an exasperated noise and shuts up.

Cillik turns her cold, murderous eyes on her sister, "Job- shmob," she twirls the knife between her fingers absentmindedly, "If you had really needed your sleep you wouldn't have come up here."

"That's not-"

Cillik tosses the knife right past Lucid's ear. The knife buries itself deep into the wall, the handle was the only thing that stuck out. "Fair? Life's not fair. Get over it."

Lucid jumps and keeps her head down in fear. "Gods above!"

"If you need to sleep so bad, go back to bed," Cillik hissed, picking another knife from out beneath the couch cushion.

"Yipe!" Lucid runs back downstairs as quick as her feet would take her. She almost forgets the pups in her belly and dives into bed, but at the last moment she stops and sits down in her chair again.

Lucid puts a hand over her heart. It was racing faster than ever before.

No chance of getting any more sleep now.

XxX

Neyonia the Second- Residence of Radd - 12:46 PM – 4 days later

The day after Cillik had come back, Lucid was already considering moving. Her sister's return was not the only worry she had. She was very close to having her pups and still didn't want her mother to know about it.

Radd must have sensed all this because he had invited her to come and stay with him for the time being. Immediately she had accepted the generous offer. She had packed her things in an hour, told her mother she was going to live somewhere else for a while (as soon as Cillik was out of earshot so she wasn't offended), and left for Radd's house.

Radd had given her a room for herself, separate from his own, and gave his best attempt to be a good host. Lucid quickly became confortable in his house. It was a much less stressful environment than her house and she was happy to have a different scene to wake up to in the morning than her usual room.

At night, Radd might sit at the end of her bed and watch her for a period of time before retiring to his own bed. He was doing that tonight. Lucid, living up to her nickname of Insomnia, woke up just before he was going to go back to bed.

As Radd was getting up off the bed Lucid took hold of his tail, "Radd…Why?"

He stops dead in his tracks, "Why what?"

"Why don't you-" she stops mid-scentence and cringes, her belly in great pain.

"Why don't I what?" Radd asks, almost afraid now.

" Run! Go get the doctor! My pups are comin'! " She screams at him.

"Oh!" Radd jumps back, partly out of his ears getting hurt by her yelling, and partially because he wasn't expecting her to say that. Then, without further hesitation runs for the doctor, leaving Lucid to grapple with her labor pains on her own.

XxX

Neyonia the Second- Residence of Radd – 2:30 PM

In roughly an hour after the doctor had gotten there all of Lucid's pups had been born, though to Lucid that time had felt like an eternity. As soon as the pups had come out of her she blacked out and awoke a few minutes later. Shortly after she had woken up and declared she couldn't go back to sleep again, Radd was allowed into her room.

As he walked in he was astonished to see Lucid with seven pups clustered around her. These pups didn't look a whole lot like the Adusta Pluma that were common nowadays.

One small female had entirely blue fur and a skinny male had entirely green fur, a trait that had been lost many generations ago and hadn't been seen until now. Pups such as these were considered pure.

Another, astonishingly, had more than one color of feather. Actually, the young male had a strip of feathers down his back that formed a rainbow.

Yet another pup had silver feathers, a rarity among the Adusta Pluma at any time. Though it was considered to be caused by a bacteria or virus of some kind- the condition was harmless.

Though, rarest of all, there was an albino and a black furred pup sitting next to each other. The albino had snow white fur and cherry red eyes. Her feathers were black though, usually an indicator of extreme sorrow. The black one had white feathers. He seemed to be the calmest of all the pups.

The others were mutts like their mother, brown furred and had pretty blue feathers. There were a total of three females and four males.

"Wow," commented Radd, "I didn't know it was possible for you to do that."

"Me either," admits Lucid, "though it was probably Carlos with his ability to mate with any species that made them so… unique lookin'."

The doctor nods, heading for the door, "The other ladies had similar results as well. This new generation is blessed by all the gods."

"That they are," agrees Lucid, struggling to her feet to go thank the doctor, though she can hardly keep her balance a minute before sitting back down on the bed. "Th-thank you for your help doctor," she pants hoarsely.

"Yes, thank you," chimes Radd.

"All in a day's work," he says, tipping his hat, "Good bye, and gods bless you all," and he leaves.

Just before he has shut the door Radd and Lucid call back, "Gods bless you as well!"

The pups try to mimic the words, some of them getting half of it out and others just sound like they're mumbling.

Radd laughs, amused, and Lucid gathers them close to her with her tail. He sits down at the end of the bed, looking over Lucid. What he hadn't noticed until now was that Lucid was actually thinner than before. Despite eating until her belly could hold no more, Lucid had barely gotten enough food for all her pups and herself.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, staring at horror at her once round belly, "Are you hungry at all?"

"No… Not a whole lot…"

"But look at all the weight you lost!"

Lucid looks down and for the first time realizes she's much thinner than before, "Oh my god! If I had known getting' pregnant could make me so much thinner I'd have done it sooner!"

She was thin now, but didn't have the body of a supermodel. She looked kind of underfed, actually.

She wobbled her way to the bathroom and stood shakily on the bath scale. Having had been thirty pounds overweight before getting pregnant she thought that she might still be a little out of shape. Incredibly, when the needle stopped, it showed that she was now only two pounds overweight.

Lucid stares in horror at the scale.

"On second thought," she says, turning to Radd, "Gimme everythin' in the pantry."

XxX

Neyonia the Second- Radd Red's house

Lucid was taking care of her pups. Some of them were beginning to speak clearly already, though they had no understanding of what the words meant. Their voices matched Lucid or Radd, whoever was speaking at the time, and would copy them so it sounded like there was an echo in the house.

Radd had gone out to get more food for the house as Lucid had really eaten everything in the pantry. How she had managed it was a feat in of itself.

"Hey." He said, laying down the paper grocery sacks on the table. All the pups copy his words. The pup that Lucid was feeding at the time even looked up and chorused Radd's words along with the others.

Lucid wriggled uncomfortably as the pup went back to feeding again. She huffed at Radd, not wanting to talk at the moment. Her breasts, which had swelled with milk, hurt and getting fed off hurt. Oh, how she regretted giving in to her heat urges.

A dark thought crawled into her head, If only Carlos could come see the little monsters he made.

Lucid's fur rose as this passed through her mind. It hadn't been since she had started on her anti-depressant pills that some thought like this had entered her mind. She knew it had effect for a month after you took your last one and a month was the time it took for pups to develop…

"Oh no," she gasped. She almost let the little green pup drop from her hands and to the floor in her haste to get back to her temporary room. She dug through her bags, desperately searching for her antidepressants.

Not in the medicine bag. Maybe in the suitcase? Not in the suitcase. Maybe in the music bag? Nope. In the laptop bag? No. Maybe she hadn't searched the medicine bag thoroughly enough. Nada.

She went through all the bags three full times before giving a frustrated whine. She had strewn her stuff all over the floor from searching her bags so frantically. Radd, who had been looking on with a concerned expression, now knelt down beside her and put an arm around her as she let out a long, low pitched noise- the Adusta Pluma alternative to crying.

Lucid snuffles loudly and hugs him tightly to her chest, making her milk squirt over his face. "My medication!" she cried, "How could I forget it?" From the kitchen the pups mimic her.

Radd pulls himself out of the embrace and wipes the milk from his face. "Medication? What medication?"

Lucid remembers she had never told Radd about her anti depression medications. Only she, her mom, and everyone at Cynder's last sleepover even knew about it. Her voice grows so quiet only he can hear, "It's an anti-depressant. I need it."

"W-why?" Radd asks, shocked.

"I-I…" Lucid looks down at her hands, "I'd rather not talk about it…"

Radd huffs, "Well, you can't have it yet anyway. It'd get in your milk. Your pups would be affected by it as much as you'd be."

Lucid makes the low noise again and her voice raises to a whine, "But I need it! I can't live without it! "

At this Radd looks very concerned. He holds her face between his hands and makes eye contact with her, "Lucid, I've known you a long time and you haven't always needed an anti-depressant. You lived without it then, you can live without it now."

Lucid snuffles again. He continues to hold her face so she runs her claws gently down his chest fur. He shies away from her, clearly uncomfortable.

She let a growl slip from between her lips momentarily. Luckily it wasn't very loud otherwise she'd have to explain why she was upset to him.

Ignoring the stuff she had left all over the floor, she leaves to finish feeding her pups. Radd stays in her room to pick up her stuff. And, though neither of them are aware of it though they both sigh at the same time.

XxX

Later…

The pups are asleep and Lucid is sitting on the kitchen chair listening to her Mp3 player and making the low noises. Radd looks more uncomfortable than ever. His face is twitching and his foot is tapping rapidly. He joins her low moaning.

She notices the new voice that had joined hers. She pulls her headphones off, "Why are you sad?"

"Because you are sad."

"You don't even know why I'm sad!"

"Yet it makes me sad to see you sad."

Lucid feels her insides wrench. Having him say this only makes her feel more upset and sad.

Her silence urges Radd to prod her with another statement, "Why don't you talk about it?"

"No!" Fury burns inside of Lucid.

"Come on. Tell me," He insists, "It'll make you feel better."

Lucid's face wrinkles up and she growls, her feathers turning dark, "Okay, fine, I'll tell you everything that bothers me. After I do you've got to answer me one question truthfully."

Radd doesn't even pause to think, "Deal. Now what's eatin' you?"

"Well first, there's my sister. She was the start of all my problems in the first place. Cillik took all my mom's attention, she kept me up late durin' school nights, she "borrowed" my clothes without my permission. Durin' middle school I got fat and my social ranks suffered and to get them back I had to put on a show! That show I've kept until today, pretendin' to be happy and nice and popular! I'm ashamed and it hurts me to never feel able to show my true colors.

Then, another thing is that I'm upset that I like a demon from another planet. I should really stick to my own species. But I don't want to kill anyone. That's what it is! I don't like hurtin' people. I don't wanna be like my sister! She is evil.

I also hate being fat, but then I also love it. It's comfortable and soft but it doesn't look good. Plus I'm not fit which is bad.

Sometimes I'm depressed for no reason. Sometimes little things trigger it, sometimes it takes bigger things. When I have a music block I get totally slogged with horrible feelings and right now I think I'm getting one.

Lastly, there's you. You cause me a lot of drama. You act like you like me but whenever I try to express my feelings physically you get all shy! It's annoyin' and saddenin'! It's like I can't trust you."

Radd's ears fall behind his head and he sits for a moment in shock as Lucid resumes her moaning louder than ever.

"Okay, you've done your part of the deal, now it's time for me to keep mine. What question do I have to answer?"

Lucid regains her composure and is able to keep her voice steady as she asks, "Why don't you want to be boyfriend and girlfriend? The honest truth."

"Err…" Radd bites his lip, "It's two things. Partially my anti-social disorder- which I have almost defeated- and the fact that I don't want to die."

"Oh," Lucid's ears droop, "So that's why. Haven't you ever heard of how us females will have two boyfriends, one is the one they love the other is the one they take to bed?"

"Yes. I've heard of that."

Well, now that I've got Carlos to satisfy my in heat urges, would you go out with me now?"

Radd looks uncomfortable again.

"I'd never make love to you," she promised.

Radd chuckles, "You know, that would sound really bad if we were a different species."

"So is that a yes?"

"Er… Only if you said you'd go out with me."

Lucid thinks a moment. If Carlos had multiple girlfriends why shouldn't she have multiple boyfriends?

…

"Of course I'd go out with you, honey."

"S-so is this official? Are we goin' out now?"

"Yep. But to really seal the deal…" she moves out of her own seat and sits down next to him in the same chair, "Why don't we kiss?"

A mix of conflicted emotions pass over his face, but remembering her promise he finally takes her head in his hands and they kiss.

XxX

Aboard the Massive- In the Control Room - Same day

BEEP! BEEP!

The Irken who had been asleep with his feet up sat bolt upright as the computer alerted him of an incoming transmission. The address appeared before him. The Warden, Mt. Vizon Maximum Security Penitentiary, Planet Vort

BEEP! BEEP!

The Irken clicked a button to open the message. He was greeted by the face of another Irken. The resolution was low- perhaps the camera had been damaged in some way- and every so often the picture would flicker.

The Irken on the screen had most of his face covered by a hat though what could be seen was not a pretty sight. He had gashes and was burned a great deal, some of the flesh partially melted off. Despite his condition, he looked relatively calm.

In the background, the destroyed remnants of a lab could be seen. There was broken glass everywhere and a metal beam had fallen from the ceiling that was now lying on the floor.

The Irken on the Massive opened his mouth to speak but the Warden beat him to it. "One of our prisoners escaped, all the others are dead. I am requesting the assistance of the Armada to bring her back."

The Irken saluted, "Yes sir! I'll ask Red and Purple right away sir!"

The Warden merely nodded and cut the transmission.

XxX

Aboard the Massive- Inside the Tallest's chambers- Same day

After twenty minutes of knocking on the door, the Tallest finally answer it. The Irken who had answered the transmission stared up at them.

"What is it?" spat Red, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, what do you want?" yawned Purple

"Umm…" the Irken shifted nervously on his feet, "Cillik escaped jail. The Warden is requesting the assistance of the Armada."

"You woke us up for that!" hollered Purple, loud enough to wake up any other sleeping passengers.

Red claps a hand over Purple's mouth. "If it's just one creature then get somebody to kill her. The armada doesn't need to waste it's time with some criminal."

"M-my Tallest, she's one of the few you had sent to the high security Vortian prison. She's killed more than 100 Irkens in her lifetime and she's still young. I don't think just one-"

"You dare doubt your Tallest?" asked Red, cutting the other Irken off.

The other Irken cowered in fear, "N-no sirs! Never!"

"Good. Now get out of here.


	2. Chapter 2

Neyonia the Second- Radd Red's house

It had been almost a week since Lucid had given birth to her pups. So far none of them had gotten sick- perhaps this was so because of Carlos's trait of never falling ill- and they were all eating well. Lucid was beginning to learn to cope without her anti-depressant medicine, though she was seriously struggling.

Lucid didn't leave the house as often as she used to, it was now Radd who did all her running for her. Lucid found it sweet he would do all of this work for her and her alone but was also distressed since she felt a strong need to protect him. She was relieved when every night he would come home and she could guard him.

Lucid glanced at the clock. He should be home by-

"Hey," Radd said as he walked in the front door. Outside, Lucid could hear a clamor.

Lucid slowly rises up out of her chair, "Hey. Do you know what's goin' on out there?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No idea. It looks like all the mother are gathered but I don't know why."

Curious, Lucid makes her way outside with her pups following loyally beside her. In front of her, Lucid sees all the mothers crowded up together. Some of the mothers were talking, but for the most part they were trying to keep their pups together.

One mother had a little red furred daughter with bony nubs poking out from her forehead. Its tail ended in the shape of a spade which seemed awkward to Lucid. The pup was pulling on her black furred brothers' fur and he was swatting back at her foul temperedly.

Further away, there was a sleek, gold pelted pup sitting on his mother's head as she tried to pull an orange feathered mutt out of the air. The mutt had obviously inherited the wings from his father since no Adusta Pluma had ever had wings

Over near a rock, two small pups were fighting. They fought violently though their scratches seemed to heal quickly.

All the pup looked strong and healthy and though the mothers looked worn out, they seemed happy.

After a while, the crowd gets quieter. At the moment there's silence a flash lights up the sky behind them. There hadn't been a cloud in the sky when Lucid came outside so she thought it was odd that there should be lightning. She began to turn around so she could see what made the light when a voice rang out through the crowd.

"Aw hell, I missed it?"

I know that voice! Lucid thought. Her knees felt weak when she saw who had spoken, " Carlos! "

From behind her there were similar cries and what had once been total silence broke into din. The females started pushing their way to the front, trying to get to Carlos. Lucid was nearest and had a clear path to him which she took advantage of. She took off at a sprint and yelled to him as loud as she could, "Run!"

Carlos had been tackled by all the ladies several times before and not gotten hurt but he did as he was told. Surprisingly, Lucid was able to catch up to him and lead him to Radd's house even though her pups were clinging to her. They got inside and slammed the door. The pups rushed over to Radd, who was still standing there in the kitchen.

When Radd saw Carlos and glanced out the window he pushed both Carlos and Lucid down to the basement, "Go hide," was his only instruction. Lucid and Carlos rushed downstairs. They crushed themselves into a small space between and old couch and the wall. They lay there crouched together, panting.

Lucid listened to what was happening on the floor above them. At first there was walking around, as if Radd was going somewhere. She noted where his footsteps stopped- out of sight from outside and near the basement door. Then there was banging and scratching from outside that even Carlos could hear. Outside there was a howl and a shattering of glass.

A heavy "thump" was heard when something hit the floor. More thumps and breaking glass came soon after. Lucid assumed that this was the mothers breaking into the house from the windows. She could imagine that they were fighting their way in.

"Where's Carlos!" one of the females screeched. There were loud footsteps which Lucid thought to be the females searching for Carlos. More feet joined in and soon it sounded like a herd of elephants.

Eventually, one female found Radd, "Hey!" There's a collision of bodies and the two of them crack into the floor, "You know where Carlos is don't you!"

The other females must have heard since all the banging moved over to where Radd had been.

Above the noise a death threat could be heard, "Tell us where he is or we'll kill you!"

Lucid could faintly hear a click and Radd grunted, " You'll kill me? " Then there was a noise like the sky was splitting in half. Lucid's pups huddled close to her and trembled. Howls of agony issued from above and everyone seemed to be rushing out of the house.

"He's gotta gun! Run!" one of the many voices screamed, perhaps to warn the other females. There was banging as bodies hit the floor and scratching as they struggled back up. After all the females were out of the house there're still noises from outside of yelling.

A peaceful silence returned as soon as the females had run off far enough to not be heard anymore. There was a soft sigh, a metal clank, and the shuffling of feet. Radd called downstairs, "It's okay, they're all gone now."

Carlos hurried upstairs with Lucid following. "You didn't kill any of them, did you?" he asks, looking around worriedly.

Radd shakes his head, "No," he picks up a gun off the table and shows it to Carlos, "This is a sound gun. Even though it doesn't kill, it's really painful to our species. Really loud sounds can make us go unconscious but I don't have that strong a gun." He sets it back down on the table.

Carlos picks it up again and examines it. Radd seems a little uncomfortable with him doing this, yet says nothing. After a moment Carlos tosses it down carelessly and walks off. Radd makes a quiet upset noise, too quiet for Carlos or even Lucid to hear.

Carlos and Lucid walk into the living room, herding the pups to the couch. They sit together, Lucid picking up the rainbow feathered pup and sitting him on her lap.

"What's his name?" asks Carlos.

"I haven't named any of them yet," she tells him, "I was waitin' for you."

Carlos looks sad, "Sorry if I kept you waiting long."

"Oh, it's only been a few days…"

"A few days!" he gathers all the pups and Lucid in his arms at once, "I'm so sorry!"

The pups squeak and wriggle in his arms. Lucid felt it was odd how he would apologize for something like that. Almost all fathers would die before their pups were born so it was normal not to have the father be there at their pups' birth. She decided it was because he was a human-demon creature he acted this way. "Honestly, no one's upset with you."

Carlos doesn't seem consoled at all. The pups make it out of his hold so he lets go of Lucid. "Okay."

Radd comes in to sit with them, taking a chair on the opposite side of the room, "Aren't you going to name the pups?"

"Yeah," replies Carlos, picking up the albino pup. He works with Lucid, he naming the female pups and she naming the males.

The albino female ends up being called Alicia, the blue feathered female mutt becoming Lucy, and the entirely blue female gaining the name Natalie. The rainbow feathered male was now going to be called Daze, the black furred one would be Gloam, the fully green one became Moss, and the other mutt was now Aqua.

Naming the pups seemed to cheer up Carlos. Lucid was happy to see Carlos happy and both Carlos and Radd were happy to see her happy. Lucid just wanted to kiss the both of them. After naming the pups Lucid let them play on the floor around their feet.

"Aren't they just beautiful?" Lucid asks Carlos.

"They are," he nods.

They all sit there watching the pups play together for a while. Each of them are starting to relax. Suddenly, Lucid notices one of her pups is missing. She jumps to her feet, "Where's Moss?"

At that moment there is a sound like a black hole just opened up in the kitchen and the pained howl of a pup. Lucid runs to the kitchen with Radd and Carlos trailing her.

Moss lay on the floor, Radd's gun in his furry hand. His eyes were closed, his body was still. The only sign of life in him was the slight rise and fall of his chest.

Lucid gasped, carefully picking up her pup and holding it to her chest and making sad noises. The gun drops from his hand and hits the floor.

When Carlos sees his son motionless in his mothers' arms he gasps too and tries to go over to Lucid but she swats him away.

"One of you, call the doctor right now." she demands.

XxX

Later…

Lucid waited impatiently outside of the door to the room the doctor was in with her son. The doctor wouldn't allow anyone else inside the room with him so Lucid was left feeling very anxious. Carlos had been trying to talk to her but she really wasn't in a talking mood and didn't keep the conversation going. The other pups felt her anxiousness and were quiet and fidgety.

After much waiting the doctor finally came out. Lucid was the first to him, "What's gonna happen to him?"

The doctor runs his fingers though his head feathers, "Well, m'am, your son is conscious again but," he clears his throat, "he seems to be completely deaf."

"Completely deaf!" Lucid repeats, shoving the doctor, "That can't be! We rely on our sense of hearing to survive!"

"I'm very sorry m'am." is all he says.

Lucid cries out in distress and runs into her son's room.

Carlos looks really sad, "Isn't there some way you could fix it?"

The doctor looks at him funny, "You can't fix deafness."

Carlos whines angrily and pushes past the doctor to be with his son.

Radd walks up to the doctor, holds his shoulders, and takes a breath. He feels strange for caring about pups that weren't even his but he asks his question anyway, "Is there anything you can do for him?"

"Well," the doctor starts slowly, moving out of Radds grip, "the pup is so young he can't learn language yet. It could be a good thing since he'll learn to cope without hearing. Other than writing there is another silent language I know of that's taught by the Irkens where they use their hands to speak. It's hard to learn, but it's a way to communicate at least."

Radd's brow furrows, "I'll take it up with Lucid. Thank you so much. I know neither of them said it but I'm sure they're thankful."

"You're welcome," he says, turning towards the door and opening the door, "And good luck with that pup." And he leaves.

Radd goes over to the living room. He sits down and puts his head down in his hands, feeling horrible that he'd left the gun out just this once and Lucid's pup had gone deaf because of it.

" Lucid and Carlos probably hate me now. "

XxX

Later… again.

It's a long time before Lucid and Carlos come out of the room. The pup is already able to walk- surprising for a deaf Adusta Pluma. Once they go deaf it is usually a long time before they can walk again. At one point the pup tripped and fell. Moss toppled to the floor and made sad noises. Carlos helped the pup back up to his feet but he merely clung to Carlos and stopped walking.

Radd was still sitting in the living room watching television, trying to get his mind off of Moss and the gun though failing miserably. When the others come in to the room he opens his mouth to say something but he can't form the words. He squeezes the skin between his eyes together and his already dark feathers turn black. He's experiencing guilt and sadness too profound to talk.

"Radd, are you alright?" Lucid asks him.

Radd opens his mouth again, but his noise of sadness comes out long and low and he buries his head in his hands once more.

"Radd!" Lucid drops to her knees in front of him, "Why-"

He makes another sad sound and looks away from her. Carlos carries Moss and puts one of his hands on Radd's shoulder.

Radd stops making the sad sound long enough to blurt out, "This is all my fault! I left out the gun and now Moss is deaf because of my stupid decision!"

"Radd, this isn't your fault. I wasn't watchin' the pups close enough and so Moss had an accident." Lucid insists.

"That doesn't help me to not feel guilty!" cries Radd.

Moss drops from his fathers' hand and climbs into Radd's lap. The pup reaches out to hug Radd. It was a little early for him to understand gestures, but he had caught on when Carlos had hugged Lucid to cheer her up while they were in his room.

Radd's sad sounds die away into a soft moaning while he's being hugged by Moss. He's still sorry of what he did to the poor pup but he feels that the pup isn't mad at him even though it's possible that Moss doesn't even know what happened. Lucid is too sad to be angry and the same goes with Carlos. Radd sighs and rests his head on the pup's head. Lucid sits down next to him and puts an arm around him.

"It'll be okay," she says, sounding like she's trying to convince herself.

"Yes," Radd nods, regaining confidence, "it will be okay. The doctor told me about a language he could learn that would use his hands to speak."

"He could talk through his hands?" Lucid asks, astonished.

"Well I… The way the doctor explained it I think it would be stuff like pointing rather than his hands making noise if that's what you meant…"

"Oh, I get it! Hey, Moss, look!" she points at an object across the room. Moss doesn't hear her so he doesn't move. Lucid sighs, wearing the saddest expression ever, "I don't think I'll ever get used to his inability to hear."

Radd makes his sad sound again. Lucid whines loudly. She's obviously becoming depressed. Swiftly her sadness turns into anger. She slashes her claws across Radd's face. Before she could see the damage she caused, she gets up, pushes Carlos to the floor, and runs out of the room. In another part of the house her fist slams into a wall with a crack and the bang of a door being shut. Then, everything goes quiet.

Radd's face drips with blood. He tries not to let any of it touch Moss who is off his lap and goes to rinse the blood off. Carlos has gotten up again and is looking worriedly after Lucid.

When Radd comes back his face has gauze wrapped around it to catch the blood. The sun shines through the window, casting light through Radds still dim feathers.

"It's late," Radd says, his voice void of emotion, "We should get some sleep. Maybe Lucid will feel better after a good night's rest. I'll show you where you can sleep. Come with me."

Carlos just nods and follows him and the pups follow Carlos.

Once Radd had shown Carlos the bed he could use he went back to his own bed. He tosses and turns in the covers.

How did I think I could sleep after a day like that?

XxX

The next day…

Lucid is woken up by the sound of a telephone ringing. She blinks and rubs her eyes. To her, yesterday seems only to be a bad dream. Then she sits up and hears a clink of chains around her neck- the choke chain she had attempted to strangle herself with the night before-and she knows what happened the other day was no dream.

The phone suddenly stops ringing and Lucid listens for who answered it. Radd was the one who picked it up. She can't hear what he's saying but she notices that he starts walking towards her bedroom door.

He knocks, "Hey, it's your mom. She wants to talk to you. Can I come in?"

"Uh!" Lucid tries pulling off the chain as quickly as she can so Radd can't see it. Once it's off she calmly calls, "Yeah, come in."

Radd enters the room, holding the phone out to Lucid. He still has the gauze on his face. She takes the phone from him, "Mom?"

"Yes, it's me. I want you to come back home."

"Is Cillik there makin' you do this?"

"N-no she went out. I just want to see you again. I miss you."

Lucid furrows her brow, "Mom, I'm an adult now you can't-"

"Please, if you aren't coming back home, then at least let me come see you."

Now she was convinced her mom wasn't being forced into anything by her sister but she still didn't want her mom to come over least she see the pups.

"Is 12 o'clock good?" her mom asks.

"Uh…" she glances at Radd who nods, "Sure mom, that's fine."

Her mother's voice brightens, "Okay! Sounds good, see you then," and she hangs up before her daughter can say anything.

Lucid clicks the phone off and hands it back over to Radd. As she's handing it back, he notices the chain. He pulls it out of her grasp.

"What is this?" he wonders, looking concerned.

"This," she snatches the choke chain back from him, "is mine. Don't mess with it."

"No. I mean why do you have it?"

"It doesn't concern you!" she howls back at him trying to get out of bed around him.

He drops the phone and pushes her down by her shoulders, "If you're trying to hurt yourself then it does concern me!"

"Ah!" she screams and struggles. She kicks out at him and it knocks him back. As soon as he's away from her, she tries to make an escape, but he catches her around the waist.

She struggles out of his grip but he catches her again. There was no way she was going to get away from him like this! That's when she thinks of the one thing that might allow her to get away. Lucid turned around in his arms and pulled Radd into a really deep kiss. She pressed her body up against and put her arms around him. His eyes opened up wide and he rears back, startled by her choice of action.

Lucid takes advantage of this moment to get out of the room. She opened the door fast and accidentally hit Carlos with it.

"Oops, sorry!"

Carlos rubs his forehead, "It's okay. I'm not hurt."

"Alright, that's good I guess. …Breakfast?"

He puts an arm around her, shifting into his much nicer looking Adusta Pluma form, "Sure."

XxX

At 12:01 AM

There's a knock at the door. Lucid glances at the clock. She had had Carlos and the pups go down to the basement to hide so that her mother wouldn't see them. Lucid still didn't want to tell her the secret she was keeping. She could keep her secrets to her grave if it had to be that way!

Radd lets Lucid's mom in. He had been kept upstairs so that the house looked normal. It would be weird if she was at Radd's house and Radd wasn't there, right?

Lucid had not eaten much for breakfast and was ready for lunch. She hoped her mom would want to go out to eat instead of stay there, risking seeing the pups should they escape Carlos.

"Lucid!" her mother exclaims and runs up to hug her though stops abruptly, looking at her daughter's belly, "What happened to you?"

Lucid had almost forgotten all the weight she had lost. She had regained a little of it but she didn't have all her former girth back. This would be hard to explain.

Lucid thinks quickly and lies confidently, "Mom, I had one of those surgeries that suck all the fat out of you."

"Oh… That's… That's nice." Her mother stammered. She believed her daughter but never expected Lucid to want to lose weight so much.

"I feel much better now," Lucid went on, making her lie a little more believable, "and there were no complications."

"Okay." Her mother said, "I'm happy for you."

"I'm glad," she responded, "Would you like to go out and eat or somethin'?"

"No thanks, I just ate."

"Oh come on!" thought Lucid angrily. Now she'd go hungry or have to leave her mom for a moment to get some food out of the kitchen. She muffles a frustrated sigh, "Okay then, what do you wanna do?"

"I thought maybe we could, you know, catch up?" her mom said.

Lucid was irritated, "Mom, it's only been like a week. What could we catch up on?"

"You could have lost your job and gotten a new one in that time!"

"But I didn't so we have nothin' to talk about!"

"I do! I do! I have new stories about Cillik-"

"I left to escape hearin' about her! To stop seein' her! I don't wanna know anythin' about her!"

"Oh, yeah…" she turns her head away to think. When she does this, Lucid notices Moss moving towards her mom's tail. Wait, how was he up here? Carlos was supposed to be watching him! And he was so quiet! How was that possible when he was deaf?

Besides being impressed by Moss's skills of sneaking around, she was horrified that her mother was so near him. Moss started climbing up her back. Her mother noticed the added weight and turned in a circle, trying to see what it was. Lucid glanced at Radd desperately, eyes begging him to try to act cool and help her.

He nodded and started chuckling.

"What's so funny?" snapped Lucid's mom, "Are you laughing at me?"

"Naw, ma'am. At my son," he pulls Moss off her back. The pup squeals in protest, kicking out, "He's quite the troublemaker."

"Oh? Are you adopting like your parents now?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Thought I'd give this little fella," brushes his finger across Moss's snout, "a home."

"Aww, that's really sweet." Her mom continued.

While the two of them were caught in conversation, Carlos peeked up from the basement. Lucid waved him back down frantically. He ducked back down and sneaked back downstairs. It was quite loud but her mom didn't seem to notice.

"He's very oddly colored…" she observed, taking a clump of his green fur in her hand.

Radd stuttered, "Y-yeah. He was pretty hard to find they said."

"I never saw you as a green lover." She stated

"Well, I-" Radd started.

"I know you're lying." Moonlight cut in, "I know full well that Adusta Pluma haven't been found with matching fur and feathers for years. Plus, you aren't very good at lying Radd."

Radd glanced at Lucid, Lucid glanced at Radd, wide eyed and gaping. Lucid felt fear gripping her belly. Her mom couldn't know! Not yet!

Their hesitation only made her mom surer of herself, "Tell me the truth!"

"You can't make us tell you anythin'!"

"Ohohoho! So I am right! Come on now, I'll find out sooner or later!"

Lucid stamped the floor. She whined and growled, "I'll tell you… when I think the time is right."

"Oh, come on!" yelled her mom.

"Gosh darn it!" howled Radd, dropping Moss, "I can't stand hearing you yell at each other. Insomnia had kids okay?"

Her mom froze, "...She what?"

"You heard me right. She had-" Lucid slaps a hand over his mouth.

"Shuddup big mouth!" she yelled at him, hoping her mom hadn't heard him the first time.

Moonlight grabbed Lucid and glared into her eyes. Nope, she had heard him, "What the hell? What the hell?"

"I'm an adult damn it! Leave me alone!" growled Lucid, pushing her mom away, "I've got enough to worry about without you getting all angry for having kids! I'm my own person."

"At least tell me who you killed!"

Carlos walked upstairs at this moment, "She didn't kill anyone. I'm the father."

"You- You!" Moonlight stuttered, "You're Lucid's friend! C-Carlos! You're the father? You're not dead!"

Carlos flips his hair, "Of course not, I'm immortal."

Her mouth hung open a moment before she took Lucid by the shoulders and faced her again, "I'm not mad at you. Where are the kids?"

The pups gathered at Lucid's feet. They were all waiting for Moss to move forward. Moss stepped forward with his siblings following him exactly. Lucid could see him becoming the pup alpha, the first independent pup that all the others followed. If he didn't obey her, none of the pups would.

Moss made his way up onto Moonlight's back again. She took him in her hands and nuzzled him, purring. Moss looked away from her, distracted by her feathers. "Aw, he's adorable."

All the pups copied her, trailing off at the end when they realized Moss wasn't speaking.

"Is- Is he-? What's wrong with him?" Lucid's mom asked.

"He's deaf."

"Ouch. That sucks."

"I know. Plus, he's the most troublesome. I'll never be able to discipline him."

"I took sign language in high school.. Maybe I could teach him when he's old enough."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"I could try…"

"Thank you mom! I love you!" Lucid squeals, hugging her mom tightly.

"N-no prob, honey." Her mom squeaked out.

The other pups climbed up onto Moonlight, hugging her. "I love you!"

XxX

Neyonia the Second- at a bar

Cillik was making it known that she was back to stay. So far she hadn't killed anyone, but any second she might snap. She took her time with her drinks and flirted with anyone and everyone. She told stories of her bloody past, making herself sound more heroine-like rather than bloodthirsty.

The other Adusta Pluma would have nothing to do with her, the Irkens and Vortians who didn't know who she were enthusiastically chatting to her, and the ones who did stayed fairly quiet.

"And so the last one who stood in my way was that horrible doctor and his disciples," explained Cillik, recounting her experience at her most recent place of incarceration, "One was just a torso with treads and gun arms. There was a hot chick with her limbs cut off and a mask over her face. And then there was that dude with a sickle for an arm. The doctor just sat in his chair, pointed at me and they all came at me!"

An Irken sitting a few seats away listened as she told her story in great detail. Cillik. This must have been the one she was sent out to kill. There must have been a lot of charges against this one, Tessah didn't often get called out on a wimp.

As the story went on, Tessah began to believe that Cillik was merely boasting. Taking down four Irkens once wasn't too difficult a feat, but three super mutant ones? The thought just made her want to chuckle. What was even sadder was that Cillik seemed to have all her listeners on the edge of their seats, eating right out of her hand.

Cillik finished up her story dramatically, invoking whistles and claps from a few of her audience members. Tessah had a moment to choose between standing up and clapping sarcastically, drawing attention to herself, or to stay quiet and take her target out when she wasn't on guard. The second would be a safer choice but-

Slowly, Tessah rose out of her chair, clapping. "Well now, we sure do love stories about the death of one of our own speices. What about your species?"

Cillik looked over at her, one eyes narrowing. "Depends on how they die."

"Maybe they'd enjoy hearing the story of your death," she slips a pocket knife out and flicks it open, "by my hand."

A few of Cillik's listeners gasped, but some others had seen it coming. Cillik merely laughed, spreading her metal wings silently, "You'll need a lot more than a puny pocket knife to kill me."

"So that's what those metal strips on your back were." noticed Tessah, "What a relief. I thought it was going to be something dangerous." _

"Well then honey, this dangerous enough for you?" Cillik stands up on her chair, balancing on the small seat, pulling out her arm scythe. She slipped it onto her arm, put her hand into the glove attached to the end, and secured the straps to her upper arm.

'How'd she sneak that in here! The guards take any weapons they see at the front door!' thought Tessah, 'All I've got is this pocket knife.' She flipped through several miniaturized weapons in the pocket knife. Mini sniper rifle, no, that was for far away targets. Laser pointer, no, that was to amuse Tace. Mini plasma pistol, yes!

Tessah fired off a few shots at Cillik, who blocked the blasts with the scythe. The plasma burned into the stainless steel of the weapon. Cillik glanced down at it.

"Oh, you're really asking for it now," snarled Cillik, taking a defensive stance.

Tessah smirked, "Not asking, begging. Bring it bitch!"

"Gladly!" howled Cillik, leaping at Tessah and bringing her blade over her head.

Tessah dodged as Cillik brought down the blade right where she had been only a moment before. She hopped behind the bar and took out an empty bottle of liquor. She smashed the bottle on the wall, making the glass shatter and leaving a dangerous weapon in her hand.

Cillik was still struggling to get her blade out of the wooden floor. It came loose suddenly with a pop just as a bottle hit her in the back. The bottle shattered and rained glass and beer all over her. She spun just in time to see Tessah slam her foot into her face. Cillik lost her balance and fell backwards, Tessah on top of her.

The crown of sharp edges on the bottle Tessah held to Cillik's neck sparkled evilly. "Got 'cha!", she grinned as she pinned Cillik to the floor.

"I don't go down that easy, bug!" giggled Cillik, knocking Tessah off with a blow from her tail, "If I did, I'd be long dead by now."

They both got up at the same time, facing away from each other. Cillik turned, bringing her weapon around at Tessah's torso, trying to cleave her in two. Tessah saved herself at the last second again by stepping out of the path of the blade. Cillik only cut through air.

'Damn, she's gonna be tougher to bring down than I thought,' recognized Tessah, dodging another swipe, 'I should meet her somewhere else… With more weapons.'

While Tessah was busy with her thoughts, Cillik slashed the Irken's antenna off when she didn't move out of the way fast enough. "Dance, bug, dance!"

Tessah dove past Cillik, "Not for anybody!" she made a mad dash for the door and slipped outside before Cillik could make another attack.

"...That bug is faster than a silverfish on meth," mumbled Cillik. She turned towards the bar where frightened bystanders huddled pressed against the wall.

"...Wimps."

And she walked out.

XxX

6:37 AM

Lucid and her mom had a good time together. Lucid was relieved that she didn't freak... too much. Plus, her mom gave her a lot of tips on being a parent. Plus, her mom and her boyfriends had played with the pups so she could finally catch up on some things, mainly eating and sleeping.

Her mom had left only a half an hour ago and Lucid had to drag herself out of bed to say goodbye and help the pups with their needs. She fed them and then, when they were all ready, put them to bed.

"You get a good rest?" asked Radd.

"Yeah, sure," responded Lucid automatically. In fact she had a bad dream and wasn't able to sleep that well.

"Okay," he said, sounding disinterested since she had nothing to talk about, "I feel like making music. I'll be downstairs if you need me," he said with a little sigh.

"Oh, I'm comin' with you!"

"Um… Fine."

"Alright! Carlos, you can go do whatever," she said without looking at him, following Radd downstairs and shutting the door gently behind them. Radd sat down in his chair, picking up a guitar, and Lucid plopped down onto the couch.

"… Remember when we used to make music together?" asked Lucid, reaching out for Radd's arm.

"Yeah. They turned out really good," he said, feeling her contact his arm.

Lucid squeezed his arm and felt the strong muscle beneath the fur, "Yes, they did."

"I have some of them on here. Do you wanna hear them?"

"Oh, that would be great," Lucid said, stroking Radd's fur.

He brought up the music player on his computer. It took him a minute to find the old songs but they were all there. He set it to play on the first one and started strumming the guitar softly along with the music.

Lucid could remember exactly what they were doing when they made the song. She could recall how long it took and how excited they were about making it. She had only just begun learning how to play an instrument, but her part in the song had turned out fairly well.

As the next few songs played through in their entirety, Lucid felt as if she was hearing herself improve. She could hear Radd had been improving too. She had used to think he was great, so much so that she'd never be able to reach his level of instrumental mastery when, in fact, he was no master. He was still learning, just like she was.

After the songs were all through, Radd stopped the music player and continued playing on his guitar. He played softly and gently. She only heard a few notes that sounded like mistakes every so often. Lucid had never heard any of the songs he played, he must have been coming up with them off the top of his head.

Lucid stopped petting Radd and lied back on the sofa, sighing contentedly.

"Why did you want to come down here with me?" Radd questioned coolly along with his guitar playing.

Lucid put her hand on his leg, "'Cause I wanted to be with you, honey."

"Why don't you spend more time with Carlos? He likes you as much as I do or more."

"Why should I when you're around?"

Radd grumbled something she couldn't understand.

"I've never met a guy who is so unhappy to get special attention," said Lucid, covertly pushing him to tell her what bothered him so much about being around her.

"I don't not like it… I'm just still nervous around you. I just don't wanna be, you know, raped. And especially not by you."

"I've told you before not to worry about that. Just enjoy your time with me, yeah?"

"...Yeah." he stops playing the guitar and takes her hand.

XxX

The Alleyways of Neyonia the Second- 8:09 AM

The sky was dark with grey rainclouds hanging ominously overhead. Tessah stood on the roof of a house, watching Cillik from above. Her cat-like creature Tace waited loyally beside her. Tessah had brought some of her better weapons to this fight. For guns, there was a rifle and a pistol. She also had brought her sword and, just in case, an explosive or two.

Cillik was walking home, completely oblivious to the fact that she was being watched. Tessah loaded her rifle, aimed, and shot at Cillik. The bullet tore through Cillik's ear. Tessah cursed her aim before taking off away from Cillik. Cillik turned in time to see Tace run away from the edge of the building.

"..What the hell?"

Tessah was going to try to kill Cillik with the least face to face fighting as possible and instead try to pick her off. Despite not sustaining serious injuries from their last encounter, Tessah knew that Cillik had potential to do a lot of damage.

Cillik hesitantly continued walking home. It was a few minutes later when the next shot hit her square in the back. Cillik groaned as the bullet ripped into her flesh. She looked to where she thought it had come from and saw Tessah standing there on top of the building clearly for a moment before she had dashed off again.

Cillik dug her fingers into the bullet hole and pulled out the bullet. Silver blood poured out and stuck to her fingers. Cillik tossed the bullet away, running the way she thought Tessah had gone, turning down other alleyways. All of the sudden there was another shot from behind. The next bullet buried itself into her shoulder.

Cillik screamed, both in pain and anger. Cillik was becoming frustrated and confused. She bolted down the street which she thought the bullet had come from.

"Where are you!" Cillik screamed, "Come out and face me coward!"

Another shot that blast a hole into her leg.

She fell to the ground, screaming curses. She landed badly on her shoulder, knocking it out of its socket.

Cillik struggled to get to her feet, "I'm not going to die like this!"

Before she could stand up, Tessah pushed her back down with her foot, "Oh, yes you are." She aimed her gun at Cillik's back, where she thought her heart was, and shot.

She stepped back, laughing. She had killed the outlaw Cillik! She dusted her hands off, "Well, that takes care of that." Feeling very proud of herself, she walked off, leaving behind Cillik's body.

What Tessah didn't realize was that Adusta Pluma bodies were built slightly different from Irken bodies so therefore she hadn't quite hit Cillik's heart. Tessah was half way down the street when Cillik started moving again.

Cillik's ear flicked. Her finger moved. Her tail twitched. Cillik dragged herself upright. Her breathing was heavy and difficult. "She's not getting away with that..." she swore, wiping a stream of silver blood from her chin.

She listened close with her ears, trying to hear Tessah somewhere and caught her footsteps a few blocks away. Cillik limped towards the footsteps, pulling out her weapon.

When she saw Tessah, she had her back to her with Tace by her side. Cillik was only a few feet away when Tace stopped dead in his tracks. He raised his muzzle into the air and drew in the air. He could smell Cillik nearby. Tessah looked down at him but as she did she saw Cillik.

"Wha-? How are you alive!" she yelped, grabbing for her weapon.

"Magic, baby," she said, slicing off both of Tessah's arms before she could arm herself. "Magic."

Tessah stumbled back, tripping and falling over backwards, screaming in agony. She looked between the two stumps sticking out from her torso which used to be her arms. Most likely she was experiencing indescribable pain.

Tace leaped at Cillik, sinking his two saber teeth into her side. Cillik barely acknowledged him, knowing that her blood could easily poison him.

"Who are you?" snarled Cillik to Tessah over her screaming. Tessah didn't stop screaming so Cillik repeated her question putting her face in Tessah's and speaking more loudly, her voice half whining at the end of her sentence as Tace's fangs dug deeper into her.

"Assassin Second Class Tessah!" she spluttered out.

"Assassin? Who sent you?" snapped Cillik.

"It was an order from the Tallest! I-I- couldn't refuse." she blubbered, tears of agony streamed down her cheeks.

"Nice to know, bug," smirked Cillik, raising her weapon again. She cut off both of Tessah's feet, making her scream even louder. "Now…" she said picking up Tessah by her antenna, "Bring out your spider legs so I can give you a warrior's death, even though you don't deserve it."

Tessah wiggled in her grip, "I-I don't have any. Th-They forgot them in my PAK." She sobbed harder, "P-please don't kill me! Please!"

"You've been reduced to begging? How pathetic." spat Cillik, pulling Tace out of her, "Just for that I'll let you live."

She set Tessah on Tace's back, "Go back to your Tallest. Go back and tell them the horrors of –dramatic pause- Cillik, the most powerful Adusta Pluma this half of the galaxy and possibly in the entire galaxy. But before that…"

Cillik took her blade and cut off Tessah's antenna, sliced into her right eye, and carved off pieces of her skin. The whole time Tessah was screaming with tears getting into her wounds and making them hurt worse.

When Cillik was satisfied with her work, she stood up, "Now go!" Cillik announced and smacked Tace's butt and he dashed off. Tessah tried to hold on to his back with her shortened legs and teeth, somehow managing it.

Cillik watched them as they retreated down the alleyway with satisfaction in her eyes. When they were finally out of sight, Cillik sighed.

"I still haven't killed anybody yet."

XxX

11:27 AM –Radd's house

It was late. Really late. Lucid twisted and turned under the covers of her bed, unable to sleep. Half because of the two hour nap she had taken and half because she wanted to be around her two boyfriends... and also because she kept having horrible images of her sister in her head.

She got up out of bed and walked down to the couch in the living room where Carlos was sleeping. She could hear him snoring from the top of the stairs. She saw that his legs were hanging off the side of the couch and with one of his arms draped over the back.

"Hey," she poked him in his side.

Carlos woke up with a jolt, falling off the couch and onto the floor with a thud. Lucid bent over to help him up.

"I can't sleep," she told him in a quiet whisper.

He makes a pouting face, "Well, I was sleeping just fine..."

"Sorry," she apologized, "Just come with me, alright?"

"Alright," he yawned.

Lucid pulled him to Radd's room without hearing any protests from him. She knelt down by Radd's bed. Radd looked so peaceful when he was asleep Lucid felt bad about waking him up.

"...Radd?" whispered Lucid.

He opened his eyes slowly, "...Lucid?"

"Yeah, it's me... and Carlos. I can't sleep, can we sleep here with you?"

"Sure, whatever," grunted Radd, rolling over to make room for them.

"Thanks!" she said. She pulled Carlos with her into Radd's bed.

Lucid wrapped her arms around Radd's waist and pulled him closer to her so that their fur was brushing. He put one of his hands over hers automatically. Carlos pressed himself up to her back and draped a wing over her before dozing off again. Lucid wrapped her tail around his and snuggled deeper into the covers with both her boyfriends' right there next to her.

She shut her eyes, no longer haunted by her sister's form. All she could see was the darkness behind her eyelids and all she could feel was happy, tired, and content.

At long last, she could sleep.


End file.
